Associate Professor Rob Pensalfini
School of Communication and Arts
+61 7 336 52245
Researcher biography
Dr Rob Pensalfini received his PhD in theoretical linguistics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1997, with research based on his fieldwork in the Barkly Tableland of Australia's Northern Territory. He then worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago for two years prior to commencing as a Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Queensland in 1999. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and Drama in 2003, and to Associate Professor in 2016. He has published several books and numerous articles in both linguistics and drama, including ground-breaking work on the performance of Shakespeare in prisons. He leads Australia's only ongoing Prison Shakespeare program and is the Artistic Director of the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble.
Research Interests
- Australian languages
The structure and use of Australia's indigenous languages, particularly morphology, phonology and syntax. Language documentation and description. Language endangerment and maintenance. - Prison Shakespeare
The performance or study of Shakespeare's dramatic works in prisons, typically faciliated by external artists. The impacts and challenges of such projects and the history and development of the phenomenon. - Shakespeare in Performance
Particularly in Australia. - Actor training
Use of the voice and body in acting. Performing rhetoric and verse.
Publications
Books
Pensalfini, Rob (2021). Bogga. Brisbane, Qld, Australia: Playlab Theatre.
Green, Rebecca, Green, Jennifer, Hamilton-Hollaway, Amanda, Meakins, Felicity, Osgarby, David and Pensalfini, Rob (2019). Mudburra to English Dictionary. Canberra, Australia: Aboriginal Studies Press.
Dixon, Shannon Kulngankarri, Hughes, Wendy, Dixon, Janey Walanyku Lunjabirni, Dixon, Raymond Dimakarri, Bill, Maureen, Bill, Sarah, Bill, Raylene, Kingston, Susan, Nangkurrunyungu, Johnny Devlin, Hamilton-Hollaway, Amanda, Osgarby, David, Pensalfini, Rob and Meakins, Felicity (2019). Birrka marnini: making things Mudburra. Batchelor, NT, Australia: Batchelor Press.
Raymond, Pompey, Dixon, Pharlap, Dixon, Sue, Dixon, Shannon, Dixon, Ray, Dixon, Jeffrey, Dixon, Janey, Dixon, Elizabeth, Raymond, Mark, Dalywaters, Harold, Collins, Jumbo, Woods, Robin, Peterson-Cooper, Eileen, Meakins, Felicity, Pensalfini, Rob and Wightman, Glenn (2018). Jingulu and Mudburra plants and animals: biocultural knowledge of the Jingili and Mudburra people of Murranji, Marlinja, Warranganku (Beetaloo) and Kulumindini (Elliott), Northern Territory, Australia. Batchelor, NT, Australia: Batchelor Institute.
Pensalfini, Rob (2015). Prison Shakespeare: For these deep shames and great indignities. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9781137450210
Pensalfini, Rob (2011). Jingulu texts and dictionary: An Aboriginal language of the Northern Territory. Canberra, A.C.T., Australia: Pacific Linguistics.
Pensalfini, Rob (2003). A Grammar of Jingulu, an Aboriginal Language of the Northern Territory. The Australian National University, Canberra ACT: Pacific Linguistics.
Book Chapters
Pensalfini, Rob (2024). Vowel Harmony in Australian Languages. The Oxford Handbook of Vowel Harmony. (pp. 925-934) Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198826804.013.74
Dunne, Steven and Pensalfini, Rob (2023). 'All corners else o’th’Earth let liberty make use of’: the Shakespeare Prison Project. Reimagining Shakespeare education: teaching and learning through collaboration. (pp. 295-306) edited by Liam E. Semler, Claire Hansen and Jacqueline Manuel. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108778510.030
Pensalfini, Rob (2019). The play's the thing: performance in Prison Shakespeare. Performing arts in prisons: creative perspectives. (pp. 151-168) edited by Michael Balfour, Brydie-Leigh Bartleet, Linda Davey, John Rynne and Huib Schippers. Bristol, United Kingdom: Intellect.
Meakins, Felicity and Pensalfini, Rob (2016). Gender bender: Disagreement in Jingulu noun class marking. Loss and Renewal: Australian Languages Since Colonisation. (pp. 425-450) edited by Felicity Meakins and Carmel O'Shannessy. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton.
Pensalfini, R. (2015). Jingulu. Edinburgh Handbook of Evaluative Morphology. (pp. 416-422) edited by Nicola Grandi and Livia Kortvelyessy. London, United Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press.
Pensalfini, Rob, Guillemin, Diana and Turpin, Myfany (2014). Editors' introduction. Language description informed by theory. (pp. 1-13) edited by Rob Pensalfini, Myfany Turpin and Diana Guillemin. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing.
Pensalfini, Rob (2014). Verbs as spatial deixis markers in Jingulu. Language description informed by theory. (pp. 123-152) edited by Rob Pensalfini, Myfany Turpin and Diana Guillemin. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing. doi: 10.1075/slcs.147.07pen
Pensalfini, Rob (2013). Shakespeare of the oppressed. Teaching Shakespeare Beyond the Centre: Australasian Perspectives. (pp. 225-236) edited by Kate Flaherty, Penny Gay and L. E. Semler. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9781137275073.0025
Pensalfini, R. J. (2006). Configurationality. Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics. (pp. 23-27) edited by K. Brown. UK: Elsevier Ltd. doi: 10.1016/b0-08-044854-2/01959-3
Pensalfini, R. J. (2005). Kriol (Roper River Creole). Encyclopedia of Linguistics. (pp. 585-587) edited by P Stranzny. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn.
Laughren, Mary, Pensalfini, Rob and Mylne, Tom (2005). Accounting for verb-initial order in an Australian language. Verb First: On the syntax of verb-initial languages. (pp. 367-401) edited by Carnie, Andrew, Harley, Heidi and Dooley, Sheila Ann. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Pensalfini, Robert (2001). On the Typological and Genetic Affiliation of Jingulu. Forty Years on: Ken Hale and Australian languages. (pp. 385-399) edited by Simpson, Jane, Nash, David, Laughren, Mary, Austin, Peter and Alpher, Barry. Australian National University, Canberra: Pacific Lingustics.
Pensalfini, R. J. (2000). Encyclopedia-lexicon distinctions in Jingulu grammar. The Lexicon-encyclopedia interface. (pp. 393-431) edited by Bert Peeters. Oxford: Elsevier.
Journal Articles
Dunne, Steve and Pensalfini, Rob (2023). All Corners Else o'th'Earth Let Liberty Make Use Of' The Shakespeare Prison Project. Reimagining Shakespeare Education, 295-306.
Meakins, Felicity, Pensalfini, Rob, Zipf, Caitlin and Hamilton-Hollaway, Amanda (2020). Lend me your verbs: verb borrowing between Jingulu and Mudburra. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 40 (3), 1-23. doi: 10.1080/07268602.2020.1804830
Meakins, Felicity and Pensalfini, Rob (2020). Holding the mirror up to converted languages: two grammars, one lexicon. International Journal of Bilingualism, 25 (2), 136700692092246-457. doi: 10.1177/1367006920922461
Pensalfini, Rob and Meakins, Felicity (2019). Gender lender: noun borrowings between Jingulu and Mudburra in northern Australia. Journal of Language Contact, 12 (2), 440-478. doi: 10.1163/19552629-01202007
Heard, Emma Marie, Mutch, Allyson, Fitzgerald, Lisa and Pensalfini, Rob (2013). Shakespeare in prison: affecting health and wellbeing. International Journal of Prisoner Health, 9 (3), 111-123. doi: 10.1108/IJPH-03-2013-0013
Pensalfini, Rob (2009). Not in our own voices: Accent and identity in contemporary Australian Shakespeare Performance. Australasian Drama Studies, 54, 142-158.
Pensalfini, Robert (2008). 'Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say' - Shakespeare and the capacity to sustain complexity. Words' Worth, 41 (1), 16-29.
Nguyen, T. Anh-Thu, Ingram, John C. L. and Pensalfini, Rob J. (2008). Prosodic transfer in Vietnamese acquisition of English contrastive stress patterns. Journal of Phonetics, 36 (1), 158-190. doi: 10.1016/j.wocn.2007.09.001
Fotheringham, Richard and Pensalfini, Rob (2007). Anti-colonial Voices? Non-British Accents and the National Authentication of Shakespeare in Australia in the 1970s. Australasian Drama Studies, 50 (50), 49-65.
Pensalfini, R. (2006). How the Voice Works. Drama Queensland Journal
Pensalfini, R. (2006). Theatre, Therapy, Theology, and the Dis-integration of the Human. Ignite journal
Pensalfini, Robert (2004). Towards a Typology of Nonconfigurationality. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 22 (2), 359-408. doi: 10.1023/B:NALA.0000015794.02583.00
Pensalfini, Rob (2004). Eulogizing a language: The Ngarnka experience. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 168 (168), 141-156. doi: 10.1515/ijsl.2004.029
Pensalfini, R. J. (2003). Part of Speech Mismatches in Modular Grammar: New Evidence from Jingulu. Linguistic Variation Yearbook, 1, 209-227.
Pensalfini, Rob (2002). Vowel Harmony in Jingulu. Lingua, 112 (7), 561-586. doi: 10.1016/S0024-3841(01)00061-4
Pensalfini, R. (2001). Part of Speech Mismatches in Modular Grammar. Linguistic Variation Yearbook, 1, 209-227. doi: 10.1075/livy.1.09pen
Winkworth, A., Pensalfini, R. J. and Baldock, P. (2000). Pineapple as voice remedy: alternative or mainstream?. Australian Voice, 6, 16-18.
Pensalfini, R. J. (2000). Hyperventilation in actor training and the myth of 'Oxygenation'. Australian Voice, 6, 37-40.
Breen, Gavan and Pensalfini, Rob (1999). Arrernte: A language with no syllable onsets. Linguistic Inquiry, 30 (1), 1-25. doi: 10.1162/002438999553940
Pensalfini, R. J. (1999). The rise of case suffixes as discourse markers in Jingulu -- a case study of innovation in an obsolcent language. Australian journal of linguistics, 19 (2), 225-240.
Conference Papers
Loth, Jo and Pensalfini, Rob (2021). Integrating the Linklater and Suzuki methods. Voice and Speech Teachers Association Annual Conference, Online, June 2021.
Jo Loth and Pensalfini, Rob (2020). Creative negotiations: combining Suzuki and Linklater actor training techniques. Australasian Drama Studies Association Annual Conference, Online, December 2020.
Pensalfini, Rob , Meakins, Felicity , Zipf, Caitlin and Hamilton-Holloway, Amanda (2019). Bidirectional verb borrowing between Jingulu and Mudburra. Australian Linguistics Society Annual Conference, Macquarie University, NSW, Australia, December 2019.
Pensalfini, Rob (2011). Re-imagining the actor’s quartet. Winnipeg, Canada: University of Manitoba.
Pensalfini, R. J. (2000). Optional disagreement and the case for feature hierarchies. The Chicago Linguistics Society's 35th Meeting, Chicago, University of Chicago, 22-24 April, 1999. Chicago Linguistics Society.
Pensalfini, R. J. (1999). Suffix Coherence and Stress in Australian Languages. 1999 Annual Confernce of the Australian Lingiustics Society, University of Western Australia, Perth, 28th September - 2nd October, 1999. Perth, WA: Australian Linguistics Society.
Pensalfini, Rob (1998). The Development of (Apparently) Onsetless Syllabification: A Constraint-Based Approach. Chicago Linguistics Society Annual Meeting 1998, Chicago, 1998.
Creative Works
Pensalfini, Rob (2018). The Blood Votes. Brisbane, Australia: Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble.
Pensalfini, Rob (2017). Bogga. The University of Queensland: Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble.
Pensalfini, Rob (2017). Bogga. The University of Queensland, Queensland: Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble.
Pensalfini, Rob (2016). Music and Madness. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland: Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble and UQ.
Pensalfini, Rob (2016). Twelfth Night. Brisbane, Australia: Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble.
Pensalfini, Rob, Sanderson, Leah, Franklin, Jo and Dekker, Kat (2014). A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare Prison Project. Southern Queensland Correctional Centre: Gatton, QLD, Australia.
Pensalfini, Rob, Kosch, Angel, Franklin, Jo and Sanderson, Leah (2013). The Comedy of Errors. Gatton, QLD, Australia: Southern Queensland Correctional Centre.
Pensalfini, Rob (2013). A Midsummer Night's Dream. Brisbane, Queensland: Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble.
Pensalfini, Rob (2012). The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Brisbane, Queensland: Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble.
Pensalfini, Rob, Edwards, Gavin, Tofteland, Curt, Heard, Emma, Trnka, Irma and Pensalfini, Anne (2011). Shakespeare in prison. Ironbark, QLD, Australia: Borallon Correctional Centre.
Barry, Jane, Hoey, Aisling, Pensalfini, Anne, Pensalfini, Rob and Verbraak, Liz (2010). Macbeth. Ironbark, QLD, Australia: Borallon Correctional Centre.
Carne, Andrea, Kosch, Angel, Pensalfini, Anne, Pensalfini, Rob and Small, Belinda (2009). Julius Caesar. Ironbark, QLD, Australia: Borallon Correctional Centre.
Pensalfini, Robert J. (2006). Shakespeare Prison Project (formerly known as Arts in Community Enhancement - ACE). Borallon Correctional Centre: Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble.
Working Papers
Pensalfini, Rob (2007). Verbs as Spatial Deixis markers in Jingulu. School of English, Media Studies and Art History, The University of Queensland.
Jäger, Andreas and Pensalfini, Rob (2007). Introduction. School of English, Media Studies and Art History, The University of Queensland.